Digging through recent tournament results, I wanted to find something brand new to play. Cinderace VMAX stuck out like a sore thumb; I almost forgot it existed. It doesn’t look like much! Counter is a Energy-efficient way to trade damage, making Mallow & Lana far better in this deck than others. You’ll have more time to use it, giving you some wiggle room to make crafty plays. Max Pyro Ball isn’t much either, but it starts at 190 post-Burned damage on its first use. This is great example of a midrange Fire-type deck, one that even runs Crushing Hammer for a bit of denial.

##Pokémon - 15
4 Cinderace V RCL 35
3 Cinderace VMAX RCL 36
2 Dedenne-GX UNB 57
2 Crobat V DAA 104
1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX UNB 20
1 Phione CEC 57
1 Eldegoss V CPA 5
1 Cramorant V SSH 155
##Trainer Cards - 34
4 Welder UNB 214
2 Mallow & Lana CEC 198
2 Boss's Orders RCL 154
4 Switch CES 147
4 Quick Ball SSH 179
4 Pokégear 3.0 SSH 174
4 Crushing Hammer SSH 159
2 Reset Stamp UNM 206
2 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
2 Great Ball SSH 164
4 Giant Hearth UNM 197
##Energy - 11
11 Fire Energy 2

Why This?

Is there any reason to sleeve up Cinderace VMAX instead of Centiskorch VMAX? Frankly, I don’t think so. All in all, the deck is built very similar but it doesn’t rely on Volcanion early to get extra Energy out. There are some key differences though.

• Without Volcanion and other support pieces it’s possible to play Crushing Hammer.
• It consistently does what you want, whereas Centiskorch is dependent on the number of Energy attached.
• 190 damage (with the potential for more) is still two-shot range against even the largest Pokemon VMAX.
  • This also happens to be perfect against both Dedenne-GX and Crobat V.
• It can be more aggressive with Boss’s Orders early because the attack costs only one Welder.
• Counter can occasionally provide great value, but an opponent does need to walk into it.

Anything Else?

All in all, this is a fun out of the norm Fire-type deck that hasn’t seen a whole lot of play. I don’t think it has nearly the same potential as some of the other rogues out there. However, it’s something that I’ve seen played a little bit lately and I wanted to provide you with an outlet to learn a little more about it from someone that’s tried it. In a vacuum, Centiskorch VMAX is just a better card than Cinderace VMAX. It swings for more at the end of the day! If you wanted to play a more defensive Centiskorch deck with Mallow & Lana you even could – there’s nothing about Cinderace VMAX other than that it doesn’t require Volcanion that frees up space for defensive cards. Try this deck out if you want to try something new and like Fire-type decks. It’s the most midrange-style one of the lot out there; every other Fire-type deck is almost always aggro.